Chapter 301: Hunters and Survivors

"Thank you..." Chloe whispered, still keeping her eyes lowered, her cheeks completely reddened. It wasn’t the first time Vlad had kissed her, yet it sent butterflies tickling in her stomach. Since their relationship had changed, his every little intimate move made her heart skip a beat.

"Ehh? My baby is blushing?" Vlad teased, lifting her chin with his hand.

Now that her shy face was visible to Vlad’s intense crimson eyes, Chloe felt completely exposed. The fact that he could finally tell the difference between a fever and a blush was a cause for both relief and worry for Chloe.

His romantic density was thinning, which meant he could now recognize her advances for what they were, but it also meant he could read her just as clearly when she was flustered, like now.

"Me sleepy," Chloe blurted, quickly lying down. Her legs stretched forward on the flower field. She placed her head on his lap but felt something hard, metallic, and uncomfortable beneath it. She shifted, only to feel the same bump on the other side of his trousers.

"Wait," Vlad said, knowing the reason for her discomfort. He slipped one hand below her head to support it and emptied a couple of his pockets with the other hand.

He placed those tokens beside the one Chloe had proudly spread on the field before lowering her head onto his lap.

"You know you should cut some hours from your sleep," Vlad nagged with a sigh. "You are not a toddler anymore who needs twelve hours of sleep daily."

Contrary to his nagging words, his hand was already betraying him, gently patting her head the way a mother would to put her child to sleep.

"Mm," Chloe nodded with a faint smile. She was not going to reduce her sleeping hours at all, and she knew all too well that Vlad would only nag, never force.

She raised her arms towards him, her lavender eyes, already heavy with sleepiness, barely rising to meet his face. "Arm."

Vlad released another sigh. "Did you even hear a word I said?" he asked, giving her his free arm, his other hand still stroking her head.

"Reduce sleeping hours," Chloe whispered, shifting onto her side and hugging his arm close to her chest with both hands as if it were a cuddle pillow.

At that moment, both of them knew Vlad’s nagging was meaningless.

"Spoiled little brat," Vlad muttered softly.

Chloe only hugged his arm even tighter in response. With Vlad’s protective hand patting her head and his warm arm between her arms, it didn’t take more than a minute for Chloe to fall asleep.

---

Meanwhile, somewhere in the lower part of the forest mountain...

"Who could that psycho joker be?" the Angry Face muttered, chugging down a bottle of potion.

Just like him, the other seven hunters around him were also sitting cross-legged on the ground, drinking potions to recover their mana. Their silhouettes were covered in a faint veil of energy.

"Whoever he is, he will regret messing with us," the Sad Face added, his voice equally frustrated. He could still feel the stinging pain across his throat from the clothesline Vlad had given him.

They had already decided to find and jump him as soon as they recovered their mana.

The Crying Face’s eyes behind his mask shot open. "Someone is coming," he said. He was the most sensitive of the group.

All eight of them immediately rose to their feet, drawing their weapons. Their eyes scanned the branches of the trees surrounding them and the bushes covering the ground.

A distant bush, around fifty metres away, rustled, gathering everyone’s attention.

From the tall bush, two figures emerged: a short, orange-haired young man and a black-haired girl with inner shades of white. Max and Aria.

The hunters immediately recognised the two. Aria Starveil was already well known. As for Max, how could they forget the very person responsible for draining their mana?

The hunters’ weapons were already glowing with their mana as they prepared for battle. Since they had already lost their tokens, there was nothing to lose even if all the survivors jumped on them at once.

"There is no ambush. We came alone," Aria stated, knowing the reason for their worry.

Her statement only confused the hunters further.

"You are underestimating us too much if you think you two can defeat us alone," the Angry Face stated, pointing his sword at the duo.

"We are not here to fight," Aria said, stopping once the distance between them was reduced to twenty metres. She crossed her arms before her chest and stated in a smug tone, "Fighting you is just a waste of time. It’s not like we can get anything from you."

Her statement made the hunters flinch, causing them to exchange glances.

"What do you mean?" the Angry Face asked.

"You know what I mean," Aria replied. "You aren’t the only ones who were robbed by the Masked Menace."

It didn’t take more than a second for the hunters to realise whom she was referring to as the Masked Menace.

The Angry Face lowered his sword as he asked, "You mean..."

"I came here with a proposal," Aria offered, taking another step forward.

As absurd as a proposal from a survivor they meant to hunt sounded, the hunters were also curious about what she had to say.

"A question first," the Angry Face said, pointing his sword at her again. "How do you know that we were robbed by the Masked Menace?"

"Max, tell them," she ordered the orange-haired boy beside her.

No response came. He was busy typing something on his phone, a hint of concern on his face.

"Max!" Aria called again, her voice a bit sharper.

"Oh, y-yes," Max said, putting the phone back in his storage ring. ’I hope he see the message.’

He quickly moved ahead, reaching the Surprise Face. The latter pointed his spear at him, obviously being cautious, but Max just ignored it.

He pulled a bug-sized metallic button from the back of the hunter’s collar.

"This is called a Listening Bug," Max said with proud smugness. "I planted it during our clash. It contains tracking and eavesdropping features."

His revelation naturally annoyed the hunters even more. If the Masked Menace had not robbed them, Max would have tracked them using the bug and ambushed them again.

Max could clearly tell that the Angry Face was making the same kind of expression beneath the mask as the one on its surface.

He quickly moved back, taking cover behind Aria, afraid that they might jump on him.

"Seniors..." Aria called, gathering their attention. "Would you like to cooperate with us to hunt the Masked Menace?"